Beating of the hearts
by WeepingintheTardis
Summary: The case was closed, the murderer imprisoned, Broadchurch safe. This should be the end where they said their farewells and followed their own path. Except, they were led down the path of destruction and they couldn't let go. !DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED 1x08!
1. Prologue

**AN:**

******I wrote this story for Nanowrimo, so it all kind of happened in a haste. Sorry in advance for major mistakes.**

**!SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON FINALE!**

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Prologue

She walked away from the Latimer's house, not daring to look back. She hadn't even got the change to explain she hadn't known about Joe and Danny. Beth's cold grey eyes had been piercing right through her as she voiced what she had been thinking the whole day.

'How could you not know?'

When she was sure she was out of sight Ellie started to run. Panic and anger took over as she ran blindly through the empty streets. There was no traffic to slow her down and luckily no-one who could look at her like _that._

She didn't know she had been heading to the Traders hotel until she found herself being let in by a still neatly dressed Alec Hardy. When had she unconsciously decided that she wanted to see him out of all the people she knew? And why did the man look like he had been expecting her? It was half past three in the morning for God's sake!

'Here.' He handed her a glass filled with water.

She was still trying to recover her breath and her hands were shaking, spilling water on carpet. He gently took the glass from her weak grasp and held it for her as she managed to take a few sips. 'Thanks.' she breathed.

He pushed her lightly back into the only comfortable chair in the room and sat down opposite, on the bed, himself. A comfortable silence settled between them as he patiently waited for her to speak.

When she finally felt like she wouldn't burst into tears as soon as she would say anything Ellie looked up at her superior.

'How could any adult be in love with an 11-year-old boy?' she asked. 'Is he a paedophile? 'Cause he didn't do anything and the pathologist said there was no record of abuse on Danny, either historic or recent and I asked Tom and he said Joe never touched him, so what does that make him?'  
She swallowed back the lump that was forming in her throat and searched Hardy's face for any sign of emotion that would tell her how he felt about it.

He bit his lip. 'Why do you need a category?'

'I need to understand.' she realized she must be sounding rather desperate, but could you blame her?

He took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling, carefully choosing his words before he turned his gaze to Ellie again. 'Well...' he started tentatively, 'Just because he didn't abuse either boy... It doesn't mean that he wouldn't have gone on to.'

'Doesn't mean he would have either.'

'No.' he quickly agreed. 'We'll never be sure.'

For a moment they were both silently looking at each other, Hardy's expression full of honest compassion and Ellie's face a mask of disbelief and denial.

'He said he was in love.' he continued quietly. 'Maybe he was romanticizing to justify what he felt. Or...or maybe that's as it was. I-' He shook his head helplessly. 'I mean- I don't have these answers. I don't- People are unknowable and...' he sighed a quick glance towards Miller told him this wasn't helping. 'You can never really know what goes on inside someone else's heart.' he trailed off. The words meant more to him than to anyone else, but this time he found it hard to block out his own feelings

She didn't notice the change. 'I should have seen it.'

'How?'

'I'm a bloody detective.' She knew it was low, but it was the only argument she had. 'Miller the brilliant copper who was lying next to the murderer.' she paused. 'I want to kill him.'

Though he had known she would, at some point, say this, it didn't hurt any less that, now, she actually did.

'When did you suspect?'

His gaze dropped to the floor. 'Last day or so. There was an email account on Danny's missing phone. He only had two contacts. It was just Tom... and Joe, so...'

She processed that information. There was indeed no chance he could have been suspecting him before. Somehow she was glad for it.

'All along you said: "Don't trust".'

'I really wanted to be wrong.' He really did. Seeing Ellie like this he was painfully aware of yet another bunch of lives he had destroyed.

There was nothing more to be said, they were both aware of that, and yet Ellie was reluctant to leave. There were so many questions she wanted to ask. About Joe, about him, about herself. He wouldn't answer any of them.

'I- I should go.' she muttered eventually.

He grabbed her wrist as she stood up, surprising even himself. 'No.'

She simply watched him.

'I mean, you shouldn't go out on your own...' he added a bit embarrassed. _Nice one, Hardy, you're really good at keeping yourself under control. _Of course, he had been caring for her a long time now, that was only natural, but now this happened he felt somehow responsible for her. He had already come through this (more or less), after it turned out his wife had been betraying him, and although his situation might have been a bit different from hers, it was comparable. He could make sure she wouldn't fall as deep as he did, restrain her from making the same mistakes. If only she'd let him help. Which, he was afraid, she wouldn't.

'I just walked from the Latimers on my own, I think I can manage.' She cracked a smile. 'No need for you to go out.'

'Just make sure you're not alone.'

Was he warning her? Maybe. She nodded, though she was not quite sure what he meant.

He nodded silently and released her. 'Give me a call when you're at the hotel.'

Ellie opened the door, little surprised that her boss remained motionless on the bed. 'I will.' She promised and she stepped outside.

'Oh, and Miller?'

She turned, doorknob in her hand.

'I'm sorry.'

She shook her head, not that he could see it: his gaze was still fixed on the ground. 'Good night, Sir.'

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**AN:**

**Thanks for reading :)  
I'm not sure if I should post the rest, so_ please_ review and tell me what you think?  
**

**TBC...?**


	2. Chapter 1

**AN:**

**Thanks for the lovely reviews :3  
Here's the next part**

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Chapter 1.

.

It was almost half past six. Tom and Fred Miller were peacefully sleeping in the same bed. From the opposite bed, Oliver's light snoring was filling the room. They had closed the curtains, but the light was left on, painting the room a soft yellow.

Ellie Miller silently entered the room and locked the door behind her. Tossing her coat on the only unoccupied bed, she walked over to her boys. She ran her hand through Tom's hair and planted a kiss on her younger son's head. No need to wake them up. Olly, on the other hand...

'Olly!' she hissed, shaking her nephew's arm. 'Oliver!'

He slowly opened one eye. ' 'sup?' he murmured.

'I'm back.'

He snorted. 'I can see that.' Typical... Even when he was still half asleep he always had the ability to show off his sarcasm.

'Go get some more sleep.' she sighed. The boy didn't even bother to answer.

Ellie quickly changed into her pyjamas and put her mobile on the bedside table. She'd already called Hardy an hour and a half ago. After she left the Traders it had been much more appealing to head for the beach than to go home and sleep. At the moment it had been a good idea to wait just the right amount of time and to call her boss and then stay at the beach for a few minutes, to think. A few minutes had easily turned into an hour and it was only when she heard the church bells indicating that it was six o'clock that she decided to go back to her room.

She didn't feel bad about the lie, she decided. It wasn't Hardy's business what she was doing. he was her boss, not her babysitter... Right, he did have a point: She shouldn't be alone. It had felt wrong, lonely, sitting on the cold sand, staring at the waves with only the lullaby of the incoming tide to soothe her.

No. There was no place in her head for regret. When you don't think of something you can't feel guilty about your actions. So Ellie quickly repressed the memory of Alec's warning.

_I won't involve them in my own misery. _Resolutely Ellie turned out the lights and walked over to the window. She peeked behind the curtain and her breath caught in her throat. On the street opposite stood Alec Hardy, arms crossed in an angry manner. He looked her right into the eye and held up a mobile phone.

What? What was he doing here? The bastard must have known she faked the call. Why hadn't he said something? Had he been following her? Could he see her right now?

Her mobile vibrated.

She frowned, reaching for the device. She groaned as she read the message.

_-Next time, listen to me. Now get some sleep.-_

.

.

.

Alec Hardy waited until the lights were turned out and movement was seen behind the window before he pressed send. More movement. Good, that meant she had seen him too.

He waited another minute, just to be sure she had no intention to leave her room. He had counted the minutes after she'd left. He had assumed that the walk would take her at least twenty minutes, but wouldn't take her more than thirty. So when he got her call after just eighteen minutes he had grown suspicious. Listening carefully to the background noise rather than paying attention to her steady voice, he'd been able to make out the light breeze and crashing of the waves that could only be associated with the beach. He'd been wise enough to end the call normally, while inwardly he was fuming. Little people her trusted him, but he'd thought her to be one of the few did. Was it really that difficult to follow a bit of advice?

He knew it was. And that made things a lot worse for the former DI. Even though he had been more than slightly disappointed, the urge to protect her from what was coming was stronger. Little chance there were others out there who knew how she felt. Who knew how much worse it could get.

No. He was the only one obliged to watch over her. Because he knew what was coming. Once he'd been following the same pattern and he could see it forming now, revealing itself with every action and reaction of his DS. A path leading to self-destruction.

He tucked his phone away in his trouser pockets, turning to walk back to the Trader's and shuddered. He was freezing. Slowly he started to jog to provide himself at least some warmth.

He hadn't intended to follow Miller. At first he had planned to find her at the beach and tell her to go home. However, he she hadn't been at the beach. Well, not exactly. At first sight the beach had seemed abandoned. It was merely luck that he had the hunch to check the cliffs too. Once Ellie had told him it wasn't a suicide spot. And yet she'd been sitting there, staring off into the distance.

He crossed the empty main road, completely lost in his thoughts, and oblivious to the curb. Before he was aware of what happened he landed shoulder first on the pavement.

He cursed silently and arduously scrambled back to his feet. Even just standing hurt like hell, let alone walking. It was damn good luck no one had seen this, he thought, as he arrived at the hotel. Grimacing he reached for the knob.

'Mister Hardy?'

Paul Coates stepped out of the dark corner he'd been standing in. The vicar was only clad in his neat black long-sleeved shirt and Hardy immediately wondered why he didn't seem to be affected by the cold. It was obvious he'd been waiting here for a while.

Hardy looked him up and down again. 'Yes?' it sounded even more grumpy than intended and Paul was taken aback a little by the harsh response. Good.

'I was standing in the gateway,' he swallowed as Hardy's face hardened. 'And at first I saw DS Miller and Beth, only then Beth went back inside and Ellie ran away. An hour or so later I saw Beth leaving the house again heading for the beach, she does that now and then, but this time she was being followed by someone. She hasn't returned yet.'

The vicar shuddered as the inspector's brown eyes pierced through his own. Sometimes the man made you wonder if he could see right through you.

'Oh, and that person had a dog. I thought you might want to know.' he raised his hand in a defensive manner. 'That and... Susan Wright is watching us from behind the cars.' he whispered.

'Don't look at her.'

'What is she doing here?'

Hardy was doing a good job not to give in to the urge to turn and find out what reason Susan Wright had to spy on them. 'I have a few idea's.'

'OK.' he knew Hardy well enough to know he wouldn't tell him whatever he was suspecting. 'I'll just-' he shrugged. 'Go back to the church, I think.'

'Thanks.' Sometimes he even surprised himself.

He was rewarded with an approving nod. 'No problem at all, inspector.'

As suddenly as he had appeared, he had gone and left Hardy alone on the doorstep. Right. Next thing to add to his list of suspicious things: a vicar worrying about people being followed by dog walkers.

Although... He turned and searched to street.

No-one.

Susan did have a dog. And Susan was smart enough to watch out for the man standing in the lighted gateway of the chapel. She could have seen him and changed plans, following Paul to see what he would do-

He shook off the thought immediately. He needed to stay realistic. Beth just needed a bit of fresh air and time alone and to gain that she went to the beach. Nothing wrong with that. So what if some dog walker had followed the same path? Lots of people here had dogs. It were just his earlier confrontations with Susan Wright that made him connect this case, which it wasn't really, with her.

However, she had been watching him talking to Paul. Which was strange, given that he hadn't seen her in the first place.

Or maybe he was just getting old. His hand crept up to his chest where he felt the steady beating. It was a miracle he had made it all the way running without getting trouble with his heart, he thought, though it should take less than five minutes for his pulse to slow down to a normal eighty beats per minute.

* * *

**AN:**

**Messy chapter ending, I know... but I'm not sure about some minor things in the next bit.  
T_T still messing around with the plot... sorry if it's confusing  
Please tell me what you think?**

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 2

Climbing the stairs it was even more difficult to stay quiet, though somehow he managed to restrict the noise to heavy breathing.

Leaning heavily against the door he fumbled with the keys. His legs were about to give out and he almost fell into the room. He closed the door and stumbled towards the bed, collapsing on the soft mattress. Now his weight wasn't pressing down on his feet it hurt even more.  
_How did that even work?_ He thought vaguely. It was only logical the pain would be reduced as you took your weight off it...

He closed his eyes and waited. During his recent heart attacks he had passed out before the pain had become unbearable. He'd been glad he did. However, now, somewhere in the darkest corners of his mind, he savoured this moment. Part of him was thankful for the pain. The overwhelming sensation of an unpleasant feeling that had the rather pleasant ability to drown out everything else.

Alec Hardy hated pain. He had always claimed it to be a natural fear that only proved he was human, but only after the Sandbrook case and the happenings after, it had really become an issue. At that point the only pain he had felt was mentally: the pain of your heart having been broken. A torture he couldn't escape. Until...

Until the drinking. That was when it all started. It seemed so easy just to let the alcohol intoxicate his systems. Such a shame he never remembered the short moments of drunken bliss. The drinking had lasted until one night he found himself waking up in an unknown room in the same bed as some blond he didn't even remember having met. After that incident he'd forsworn it forever.

A few days later, however, he had opened another bottle of whiskey and had consumed half of it before getting aware of what he was doing. Furious as he was he'd emptied the bottle and the glass in the sink. He'd always had a strong grip, but this time, under influence of the alcohol, he had squeezed just that bit too hard. That glass had broken, the little pieces sticking into his fingers. Blood mingled with alcohol had been streaming down his fingers and had dripped in the sink, the physical pain taking over his senses.

After a week all the little glass splinters had been removed from his hand. At first it had been satisfying enough to just rub over the little cuts, but after some time they had healed too. Leaving him with nothing to distract him from his broken heart.

He smiled lightly at the memory and rolled up his left sleeve. Lifting his arm his fingers traced over the white lines. He'd been clean for two months now. It would be such a waste to spoil it now without a good reason.

The worst thing about cutting was that it always remained part of you. He had realized very soon that the cuts were doomed to become tiny, just visible, scars. The fact that he used a sterile knife and afterwards cleaned the cuts and let them heal properly didn't make any difference. When healed, the new skin was just that bit darker than the rest.

Nobody had noticed it at first. But as he cut more often and kept scratching his forearm, just to feel the pain, it became nearly impossible to hide it. He could only wear long sleeved shirts, even during the summer and eventually people had started to ask questions. Of course he had denied everything.

There was one thing he had done that turned out to be very clever. He was very consistent in were to cut. That had reduced the damage to only seven long scars on his left forearm. After some time the skin didn't become just a little dark anymore, instead it had turned white. The wounds kept healing, only it took longer every time the blade tore his flesh.

Hardy opened his eyes, blinking heavily against the light. He only just realized how tired he was. -very explicable given the circumstances- But he couldn't really bring himself to move. The pain had finally subsided and he was feeling rather comfortable the way he was laying right now, thank you very much.

Lazily he started to unbutton his shirt, making as little movement as possible, and threw it carelessly on the ground. With littler effort than he'd expected he discarded his shoes and socks and kicked them across the room. His hand then went to his trousers, hesitating there. For a moment he considered leaving them on.  
No, he would sleep much better not wearing them. He wriggled out of his trousers and rolled over, putting the covers over his limp body. Within a minute he was fast asleep. As always, the lights were still on.

Alec Hardy wasn't afraid of the dark, or so he told himself, he just liked his room better with the lights on. That, and most things he didn't want to think about came up to him in the dark. He hated thinking of the past, unless it was for a case, but that was easier with the lights on anyway.

The shadows were another aspect of the dark he didn't like. Not at all. Not one bit. They always seemed to threaten him. They were like ghosts of a far gone past, laughing at him for his loss. In the dark everything seemed worse.

It hadn't always been like that. It had come as a side effect of the drinking and had never really left him. The drinking, of course, had started after the divorce, when he had heard he would be separated from his daughter and wasn't allowed to see her without her mother's permission. Hannah was only thirteen back then. The fact that he wouldn't see her for at least five years had broken him.

Even now, three years later, he was suffering from the effects of that day. It was why he did not want to take the surgery. What was the point of it? What was keeping him alive day after day, he was not sure.

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**AN:**

**The first bit of Hardy's ****background story  
Next chapter I'll continue with the major plot  
Thanks for the lovely reviews :)  
and... tell me what you think? any advice?**

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 3

It was almost time for dinner when Alec Hardy finally woke up. His whole body felt sore after last night's events, but at least he wasn't tired anymore.

He yawned and stretched before sitting up and pushing away the covers. He'd never been that much of a morning person, even when it was five o'clock in the afternoon, and getting out of bed had always been one of those daily impossible tasks.

Sitting on the edge of his bed he retrieved his phone from his trouser pocket. Nothing. Miller must either still be sleeping, or not willing to talk to him. He could fully understand both.

_Well then_, he thought, _better get dressed for early dinner_. He stood up and walked around the bed, heading for the bathroom. Halfway he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and stopped.

He looked himself up and down and flinched. His right side was covered with purple-ish blue bruises and a nasty looking flesh wound stained his right shoulder. Strange he hadn't noticed that before.

He quickly showered and put on a clean suit. As he was fixing his tie his eye his eyes fell on the papers on the desk. He didn't remember reading the newspapers yesterday, let alone bringing the thing to his room.

Distracted he picked it up and checked the date. This Echo was published today, which means Becca must have brought it here, since she was the only other one with the key. He frowned. Why would she do that? Then he realised what the heading of the front page read.

**-Danny****  
-Local man charged  
Town in shock**

Skimming the rest of the article he felt his heart pound loudly in his ears. With every word he read the ace in his chest worsened and anger flared up, burning his cheeks red. When he reached the end, he dropped the newspaper and stared blankly at it.

It wasn't even a good article. This wasn't even an article at all. This was summing up the facts for the sake of letting people know every silly detail of what had happened. He'd already read the police report. Even that had been less misplaced, in even in the Echo.

Still, he felt like he had missed something. He read the page again, but he still didn't get it.

'Damn it!' he smacked his own forehead in frustration. 'Think, think, think, think!'

He started pacing. He was definitely missing something. Something was wrong. Something had been misplaced. What?

All the information they had added was correct. Still there was that nagging feeling there was something about the article not right, apart from the article not being an article. The only explanation would be that something was missing, but what?

He picked up the paper and read the article for the third time, this time comparing the little pieces of information with the ones he had in his head. Locations, right. Statements, right. Suspects, right-

No, wait! he'd been questioning more then ? people. In fact, one more.

Nigel Carter was missing on the list of suspects. Why would they do that? It was impossible they couldn't have known. He was being interrogated the same time Joe was making his confession.

Still, that wasn't what was bothering him. There must be something else, something he had forgotten.

'Aaaarhg!' the paper was thrown across the room and landed in the corner next to the bin. Maybe someone else had seen it. He started searching for his phone.

.

.

.

'Why are you calling me?'

She heard him groan on the other side and could easily imagine his face right now. 'Have you read the Echo?'

'You haven't answered my question.' Ellie excused herself with a few gestures and padded to her room.

'Listen, I'm not going to apologize for following you, if that's what you're aiming for.'

'So you did follow me.' That was another mystery solved.

'Yes.'

Good. 'Why?'

'Did you read the article about the case or not?' he was growing impatient.

'No, I haven't. Wasn't planning on doing that any time soon.'

'You should read it.'

' Now?'

'If you can, yes.'

Sighing she made her way back to where her sister was sitting and left again, this time with the Echo. 'Why am I even listening to you?'

'Don't know.' he chuckled lightly. 'Now read it attentively and tell me what you think.'

The article was short, but a lot if information had been included, most likely scrambled together by her dear nephew. Sometimes she hated that boy. Reading the unprofessional report of the investigation was enough to make her cry silently again as she saw Joe's name. She swallowed a few times before speaking.

'It's not really a good report, though they had all the names right. Even Susan Wright is referred to with two names.'

'OK, anything else?'

'It's just a simplified list of the investigation. You can barely call this an article.'

'Did they have all the details correct?'

She scanned the text. 'Yeah.'

'No, wait, were is Nigel Carter?'

'Exactly.' Hardy murmured. 'But they got right everything else, I even think some of it is classified.'

'Maybe.' she pondered. 'But if it's classified, then how can the press know?'

'That's what I want you to find out. Go have a nice chat with your nephew.'

'You are dismissed, sir. And I'm not allowed to work either.'

She could almost hear him cry out in frustration. 'Did you notice anything strange in the article, Miller?'

She considered it. 'No. Did you?'

'Yes.' he replied. 'There is some piece of information missing. I'm forgetting something important, but I can't find what.'

'What do you want from me?'

'Ask Oliver where he did get all this information. He couldn't have discovered this all by himself.'

'OK, I'll do it.'

'Thanks, Miller.' he sounded relieved.

'Will you now answer my question?'

'Why I have followed you?'

'Yes.'

There was a long pause. 'Not now.'

Well, that was to be expected. 'Right. I'll give you a call when I know more.'

She ended the call and sat down on her bed. He was right, she thought, tapping her phone on her knee, it Olly couldn't have known all this. She scanned the article again. To be honest, she was quite surprised this had made the front page. Though as a journalist he was an annoying asshole, Olly's articles were always of high quality. She certainly would have never expected her nephew to have written this if it wasn't for his name written on top of it.

The door slowly opened and Lucy poked her head inside. 'Are you all right?'

Ellie looked up and nodded.

Her sister walked in and took a seat next to her. 'Who was that?' she asked hesitantly.

'Just-' she paused. 'Just somebody.'

Lucy opened her mouth for a snappy remark and closed it again. 'So, what did this somebody want from you?'

'Nothing.'

Silence. Lucy tentatively draped her arm around her sisters shoulders and tugged her closer. 'He's upset you, hasn't he?'

She turned her head and smiled sadly. 'Not really.'

'Then why are you crying?'

'I'm not.'

'What did he tell you?'

Ellie shook her head and shook of the arm. 'Don't want to talk about it.'

Lucy nodded understandingly and got up. 'There's one thing you have to promise me, El. If you want to come through this the sane way, stay away from that boss of yours.'

She didn't answer, just stared at her. After a few moments Lucy shrugged and left the room. Stay away from Alec Hardy. If someone had told her that three months ago she would have gladly taken that advice. Now, however, something was telling her she should keep him close.

It was not that she had hated him when they first met. Well, OK, she had hated him a bit. But that was only rational. He'd been given her job and he'd acted like a grumpy impolite child. Later on she understood that was just who he was and after some time she'd learned how to handle his mood swings and impolite ways he treated others. To be honest she'd started to really like him. She couldn't just stay away from him, that just felt wrong.

This wasn't the time to ponder about her feelings for persons, she decided. There were tasks to be completed. Now where could she find Olly?

.

.

.

A loud shrieking sound welcomed her into the office. Simultaneously all heads turned in her direction. They all held the same expression: Shock, fear and compassion. But above all, there was disgust. It must be said they were all trying their best to hide it from her and yet that made it all the more painful.

'Is Oliver here?' much to her surprise she still sounded confident, if only to herself.

The group parted as she walked further into the office and a few heads were bent when she passed the local journalists. Now she could see why they all had been leaning over the same table. The Echo was placed in the middle, Danny's cold grey eyes staring at the reader.

' Maggie, where is Oliver?'

The blonde looked up from the newspaper and sat back in her chair. 'He's out.' she smiled a little. 'Wouldn't want him in here being all restless, so I send him away to get some air.'

Ellie nodded, vaguely aware of the others who were now openly staring at her. 'So, where do I find him?'

'Have you tried his phone?' one of the boys offered.

'He doesn't answer it'

'If I were you I should take a look on the cliffs.' he laughed. 'He likes to sit there with Karen.'

'I won't disturb him then.' _Oliver and Karen? Since when had they been seeing each other?_ Ellie decided to keep her questions for later and made for the door. 'Maggie, when you see him, can you ask him to call me?'

She heard the chair being pulled backwards as the other woman stood up and approached her. 'Is it really true?' she whispered so that no-one else could hear her. 'Was it Joe?'

Without a second thought Ellie opened the door and stepped outside. She walked away normally until she had rounded the corner. Leaning against the cold stone wall she let the tears stream freely.

_Thirty seconds, then you stop this. Before someone sees you, before someone notices._

Sniffing she started counting. As she reached thirty she wiped her face with her sleeve and continued her walk home. The wind blew in her face, drying all the remnants of her tears to be replaced with the heavy drops of rain that started to fall more frequently from the sky.

She didn't want to go home. She would only grow restless and start thinking and worrying all over again. On the other hand, she couldn't have Lucy feeding the kids again and snuggling in a warm comfy blanket with a steaming cup of coffee in her hands sounded just like what she needed right now.

What she could do was take a longer route home. That would mean ten more minutes amongst people, but also ten less being on her own.

Her pondering was cut off when someone said her name. Shaking her head to clear it a little she searched for the source. _Ah..._

'Didn't think I'd see you again so soon.'

'I didn't think you would still be here.' Ellie replied, increasing her pace.

'Well, I still have to write about the events after.' She synchronized her steps with Ellie's.

'I'm not talking to anyone.'

'I didn't think you would.' Karen flashed her a mouthful of perfect white teeth. 'So it's true then. How do people behave around you now they've founded out?'

Suddenly the anger took over. Abruptly she stopped, turned and pushed the stunned reporter against the wall. Karen, who had never expected such an amount of strength, was slammed with her head against the solid bricks. Gripping her shoulders, Ellie held her securely trapped.

'You. Leave. Us. Alone.' she hissed through gritted teeth. 'Understood?'

Karen nodded rapidly, deciding wisely that that was the only safe thing to do.

'If there's anything left inside there that has a tiny bit of sense, you leave this town now.' The DS brought her head closer. ' 'Cause if I see you again near anyone I care for, I swear I won't be as gentle as I am right now.'

Their eyes kept locked for a long moment, Ellie angry, Karen in shock. Finally Ellie loosened her grip and pushed the other away from her. She shot her a last glance and continued her walk.

'DS Miller?'

She pretended not to hear her.

'Stay away from Alec Hardy. That man is toxic, he will only make things worse for you.'

Again that warning. Why did everybody want to protect her from the former DI? She knew most of the folks here didn't like him because he was so grumpy and rude and impolite. But that had also meant people rather stayed away from him. She'd been the one he had gotten the closest with and she had never had a reason to keep him away from others.

OK. Perhaps that wasn't entirely true. She'd wanted to keep him away from Tom. But that had entirely different reasons, such as him using rude language and not being kind in general. Especially after Hardy had interrogated him and Tom had mentioned that he didn't like his mum's boss, she'd been careful not to let the boy alone in Hardy's presence again.

.

.

.

By the time she let herself in the hotel, heavy raindrops were falling down and had soaked through her clothes. Shuddering she climbed the stairs and knocked on the door of their room. She was surprised when Tom opened it for her.

'Hey, sweetheart.' she pulled him into a brief hug before shrugging off her coat. 'How was your day? Where's Lucy?'

'Aunt Lucy said she would get us dinner.' his voice was trembling. 'Mum?'

Alerted Ellie examined him. He was on the verge of crying. 'What happened, Tom?'

'Where is dad?'

_Shit._ 'Why are you asking?'

'At school... I-I heard them talking...' he swallowed and breathed deeply to continue. 'They said... They said dad killed Danny.'

'Who said?'

'Was it dad?' he was really crying now. 'He did, didn't he? That was why we are here, that's why he isn't.'

The tears came again, slowly rolling down her cheeks as she nodded quietly. 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.' she whispered.

Tom looked up at her. The look on his face worried her, almost scared her. His were eyes wet and watery, but his gaze resembled anger and a deep hatred.

'Why?'

She shook her head. 'I don't know.'

'I hate him.' his voice was thick from crying. 'How can I hate him?'

'I don't know.' What else could she say?

He threw himself in his mother's arms and she embraced him. 'Do you hate him too, mum?'

'I think I do.' she stroke Tom's hair lightly in a comforting manner. 'Yes, I think I do hate him. How can I still love someone who's killed an innocent boy?'

He snorted at that. 'Danny isn't innocent.'

'Not guilty enough to be sentenced to death.' she smiled through the tears. 'At least, that's what I hope.'

'No.' her son admitted.

She pulled him even closer and they remained like that until Tom pulled away. 'Tomorrow is the funeral.'

'I know.' Yes, now she remembered. She had been invited, but she had forgotten to ask Hardy if he would go. To be honest, she didn't expect him to have gotten an invitation.

'I don't want to go.' Tom had stopped crying as well and was wiping his eyes.

'Why not?'

'They hate me.' He lowered his voice. 'Danny will hate me.'

'He won't.' she tried to reassure him. 'I think he wants you to come.'

He shrugged. 'The whole class is going.'

'Then you should go with them.' She squeezed his hand.

He stayed quiet, but eventually nodded. 'Can I just be alone now, mum?'

_Just make sure you're not alone._ The voice of Alec Hardy warned her. Well, he couldn't have meant it like this. It was logical that Tom wanted to be alone for awhile. After all he'd just gotten a whole lot of information to progress.

'Of course, love.' she smiled weakly at him. 'I'll call you when dinner's ready, OK?'

She watched Tom disappear into her bedroom and then dialled Hardy's number. 'Come on...'

* * *

**AN: It took me a little while to get things straight. Sorry for that :\  
Thanks everyone for the lovely reviews :) I can really do with some feedback  
Tell me what you think of this chapter/the story so far?**

**TBC...**


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